Oil Falls as China Premier Wen Says Housing Curbs to Stay

March 14 (Bloomberg) -- Oil fell in New York on forecasts
that crude stockpiles rose to the highest level in six months in
the U.S., the world’s largest consumer of the commodity.

Futures declined as much as 0.6 percent before an Energy
Department report today that will show crude supplies climbed
last week, according to a Bloomberg News survey. Stockpiles grew
by 2.8 million barrels, according to data yesterday from the
American Petroleum Institute. The International Energy Agency
cut forecasts for oil supplies from outside OPEC this year
because of lower exports from Sudan and Syria, and said reduced
spare output capacity raises the risk of a price surge.

“The oil price will find it hard to gain any additional
ground” amid a “well-supplied global oil market,” said
Carsten Fritsch, an analyst at Commerzbank AG in Frankfurt.

Crude for April delivery fell as much as 59 cents to
$106.12 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York
Mercantile Exchange. The contract was at $106.42 at 12:06 p.m.
London time. It increased 37 cents yesterday to $106.71 a
barrel, the highest settlement since March 9. Prices have gained
7.7 percent this year.

Brent oil for April settlement on the London-based ICE
Futures Europe exchange slid 0.2 percent to $126.03. The
contract expires tomorrow. The more-actively traded May future
was down 11 cents at $125.56. The European benchmark crude was
at a premium of $19.60 to New York futures. The gap yesterday
was $19.51, the widest based on closing prices since Oct. 24.

Slowing Demand

Producers not in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting
Countries will provide 53.5 million barrels a day this year, or
200,000 a day less than the IEA forecast last month.

U.S. crude inventories probably increased 1.6 million in
the week ended March 9 to 347.3 million, the most since Sept. 2,
according to the median estimate of nine analysts surveyed by
Bloomberg News. Yesterday, the industry-funded American
Petroleum Institute said supplies climbed 2.8 million barrels to
349.3 million.

Gasoline stockpiles fell 1 million barrels, after dropping
the previous three weeks, the survey showed. The API said
inventories of the motor fuel declined by 2.1 million barrels to
226.3 million, the lowest in six weeks.

The Energy Department is scheduled to release its Weekly
Petroleum Status Report at 10:30 a.m. in Washington. The
International Energy Agency is set to release its monthly oil
market report today at 9 a.m. London time.

Oil in New York has technical support around $106 a barrel
today, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. On the daily
chart, that’s the bottom of a symmetrical triangle going back
more than two weeks. The top of the triangle, representing chart
resistance, is about $107.67 today. Investors tend to buy
contracts when prices break upward from a triangle pattern or
sell when support is breached.